July 21, 2013

The Legend of Industrial Ghost-Wolf

The Legend of Industrial Ghost-WolfAfter a couple camping in the woods is torn apart by a mystery beast, Detective Guidry (Leroy Verdin), referred to as “Chief” (more for his role as a Native American chieftain as opposed to, say, his rank as a cop), takes the case. Stumped about what kind of animal could do this type of damage, Chief seeks counsel with his Shaman, Dorian (writer/director Dorian Dardar), suspecting something far more sinister than a traditional predator. When a hunting party seeking the beast is killed, save for one survivor, the beast is referred to by the traumatized survivor as an “industrial ghost-wolf.” And it’s no longer confined to the woods.

The Legend of Industrial Ghost-Wolf is the type of film that feels like someone is playing a horrible joke on the audience. Because it is bad. Really bad. Unfortunately for the film, it never makes that wonderful turn from bad and nearly unwatchable to comedy gold, where it can be appreciated for its awfulness (see: Sharknado).

Instead, the film is a collection of poorly shot footage illustrating a boring storyline. For the most part, we have a detective that doesn’t do very much, a supposedly powerful shaman who could do something but won’t and a series of victims that get killed by something ferociously invisible. What is an “industrial ghost-wolf” anyway? We get explanations ranging from chaos incarnate to something given life because of negativity. It isn’t until the end of the film that we actually see anything resembling this “industrial ghost-wolf” and, when we do, it’s better left unseen. While the film won’t win any awards for its digital effects work anyway, the final representation of its main antagonist is particularly laughable.Comment: I didn't bother watching the trailer posted at this link. It's enough to note the problems in this write-up:

Chief and Shaman, two of the four cardboard Native stereotypes (along with Brave/Warrior and Maiden/Princess).

A supernatural monster based on a wolf.

I'd complain about non-Native actors playing Natives, but Verdin is from Houma, Louisiana, and calls himself "Half-Blood" on his Facebook page. I guess he has some Native blood.

That just makes this clichéd story all the more unfortunate. If you can't come up with a Native-themed idea that hasn't been done a thousand times before, don't bother making a movie. You're just wasting everyone's time: yours, mine, and the audience's.